Winter safety for mobile workforces

After a mild autumn, the heavy rains of the last two weeks have served as a stark reminder that winter is upon us. The winter months see workload peak across many mobile workforce industries. Black Friday and Christmas increase deliveries, boiler and vehicle breakdowns create more call outs for field service technicians and home care becomes a more vital and frequent task. Customer satisfaction and profitability during peak times are high priorities, but a key and often overlooked factor is managing the safety of your workforce.

With shorter daylight hours, low morning sun, fog, strong winds, increased seasonal traffic and the possibility of icy or snowy conditions,the winter months can be a dangerous time for mobile workforces, but a proof of delivery solution can help you safeguard your workforce. Third party technology can encourage the integration of health and safety practices throughout your operation alongside the principal operational benefits they may offer. With a proof of delivery solution like fleXipod, your central staff can have real-time visibility of driver location and progress throughout the day, quickly highlighting any problems. In addition, you can create incident and accident forms to make collecting the required information a simpler and quicker process.

Whilst every industry will have specific winter safety concerns, we’ve put together 3 considerations that are relevant to all mobile workforces:

Provide roadworthy vehicles

Ensuring the vehicles you provide for your mobile workers are in full working order and pose no safety risks is paramount all year round. However, in winter it is important to ensure vehicle parts like brakes, headlamps and tyres are working effectively on a more regular basis. Using a proof of delivery solution you can capture detailed vehicle checklists for each vehicle in your fleet with alerts sent in real time to flag up any issues including damage to tyres or windscreen wipers. For more information, this DVSA Guide contains useful recommendations on when to carry out roadworthiness and safety inspections.

Educate mobile workers

A sometimes overlooked but valuable resource in ensuring the safety of your workforce in winter is your mobile workers themselves. Educating your drivers regarding safe driving techniques in difficult weather conditions, low visibility or increased traffic is crucial to avoiding accidents and maintaining a keen focus on driver safety throughout your operation. The RHA provides some helpful guidance on driving in severe weather conditions in this article that you may wish to share with your mobile workers.

Maintain communication

As mobile workforce technology progresses, more businesses are equipping their drivers with mobile devices in the field. In winter, this can be an invaluable resource for central staff to communicate road closures and changes in weather conditions to drivers and for mobile workers to quickly alert central staff to any problems or incidents. Your mobile workers should be provided with a hands free-kit and an in-vehicle charger to ensure they are never unreachable because of battery status. With a proof of delivery solution you can monitor the battery status of each device centrally and can send messages to individual users or groups to warn of road closures or changes in weather conditions.

To find out more about the fleXipod proof of delivery solution get in touch with one of our friendly team.